9. Nicolas Anelka - €34.5 million
A throwback to the days before PSG were the powerhouses they are today.
Nicolas Anelka began his professional football career with Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 17 and after a season in the French top flight, was transferred to Arsenal, and subsequently to Spanish giants Real Madrid. In the summer of 2000, PSG broke the then transfer record in French football when they re-signed the then 21-year-old for a hefty fee of €34.5 million.
The French striker was seen as the player who would lead the club to glory for many years to come, but he soon fell out with the coach, Luis Fernandez. Anelka scored 10 goals in 39 appearances for PSG before being loaned out to English Premier League club Liverpool in December 2001 until the end of the season. He was then shipped to Manchester City in May 2002, making him the club record signing of the English club at that time. Anelka held the record of the most expensive signing in Ligue 1 history for more than a decade, but his outcome with the Parisian club laments him as one of the worst transfers in the league history.
